Cyclometalated palladium complexes as promising antimycoplasmatic drugs

Palladium(II) cyclometalated complexes combine the properties of aromatic compounds and platinum group metals in terms of the ability to bind DNA and even double-stranded RNA. In this study, the activity of palladium(II) ethylenediamine complexes with Nile red (PdEnNR), coumarine 6 (PdEnC6) and 7,8-benzoquinoline (PdEnBhq) was tested against human cancerous and non-cancerous cells, as well as against mycoplasma pathogens of humans, poultry and plants. It was found that only PdEnC6 transiently reduced A549 cell proliferation after 72 h, and cell counts were normalized after 96 h, while PdEnNR and PdEnBhq did not demonstrate any significant influence on cancer cells. In relation to non-cancerous FLEH-1097/30 cells, only PdEnBhq had a limited toxic effect. At the same time, PdEnNR showed weak activity against mycoplasmas, but the minimum inhibitory concentrations of PdEnC6 and PdEnBhq against poultry pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum and human pathogen Mycoplasma arginini correspond to that of a number of commercial antibacterial drugs. We assume that these complexes or their derivatives can be promising agents for treating mycoplasma-infected cell cultures used in science or biotechnology or perspective drugs for controlling mycoplasma infections.